I place my food on the table, then sit down. I pull out my cellphone and send a quick thank you text to Sergio for the food. I place my phone down because I don’t expect an immediate reply from him, then pull the containers of food from the bag.The smell of Italian food reaches my nose causing my mouth to water. Sergio refuses to bring me anything other than dishes from Little Palermo. He’s vowed to get me something every day until I’ve tried everything on the menu.
Before I can even get started the chair across from me scrapes across the floor. I stop what I’m doing and look up at Kai as he sits down in front of me. I stare at him unsure why he’s still here.
“What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?”
He props his feet on the table almost knocking one of the containers of food on the floor. I move it away from his shoes, so he doesn’t ‘mistakenly’ push it on the floor.
“What’s your problem?” I cross my arms over my chest. “I’ve done nothing to you, but you act like you hate me.”
A sneer crosses his face. “You’re not important enough for me to hate, Princess. Now eat your goddamn food.”
“You know what? I don’t have to take this from you.” I grab the containers of food and put them back in the bag. “I’ll find somewhere else to eat.”
“Sit the fuck down.” He glares at me. “Now.”
“I don’t know who you think you’re, but you don’t talk to me like that.”
I grab my belongings from the table, and just as soon as I walk past him, he jumps up from his chair, grabbing my arm.
“It won’t be long, and he’ll be done with you because you’re nothing. He’ll get tired of fucking with you.”
I fight back tears. Sergio has become a good friend to me, maybe even more. I hope what Kai’s saying is a lie. But he’s one of his best friends. He knows Sergio better than I do.
My eyes flew open, and my heart pounded inside my chest. Even awake, Kai’s warning from the past clung to me. I sighed, closing my eyes as I tried to push the dream to the back of my mind.
Losing Sergio wasn’t just a fear, it was terror that lived deep in my bones. And when it happened, it didn’t feel like heartbreak. It felt like my soul had been obliterated into nothing. He wasn’t just my best friend. He was the one person who saw me. Really saw me and I loved him with everything I had to give.
He was my first everything. My first kiss, my first boyfriend, and the person who took my virginity. He was the only man I’d ever loved. But after the bullet tore through me, and Giancarlo was taken because of him and his one-sided allegiance to his father, something inside me fractured beyond repair. Whatever we shared couldn’t survive that kind of betrayal.
I told myself it was over for good this time. That love had no chance of coexisting with that kind of pain. But my heart still reached for him in those cruel moments I endured with Dorian. My heart still ached to hear his voice, feel his arms around me. I missed his voice telling me that everything would be alright.
Pathetic? Maybe. But the grief of losing the one person who meant everything to you doesn’t care about pride. And genuine love just didn’t disappear because it had been poisoned by betrayal.
“I’ve got to get out of here,” I mumbled. “I can’t stay here.”
“No can do, Princess.”
The sound of Kai’s voice startled me. I fucking hated that nickname. It made my stomach twist into knots anytime he said it. He always said it with a smirk, like he wanted to get under my skin.
I didn’t trust him. I never trusted him.
He sat in an armchair against the wall across the room, near the door. Like he was posted there just in case I tried to run.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
I pulled up the comforter to cover my body. I didn’t feel comfortable with him in the room with me, while I was halfdressed. I didn’t think he would try anything because Sergio would kill him, but his presence always made me uncomfortable.
He followed my movement, smirking when his eyes focused back on mine. “Babysitting, of course.”
“Where’s Sergio?”
“Out.”
I rolled my eyes. “That doesn’t tell me where he is.”
“You’ve got us in some real shit now.” He plants his forearms on his knees, clasping his hands together while he glared at me. “I don’t know why he can’t fucking see you’re the issue. You’ve always been the issue.”
